standards-gradle

Gradle Coding Standards (Gradle 9 LTS)

This skill provides comprehensive guidance for Gradle build configuration using Kotlin DSL (.gradle.kts). It covers both everyday project configuration and advanced plugin/task development patterns based on Gradle 9 LTS.

Core Principles

1. Declarative over Imperative: Prefer declarative configuration that describes what you want, not how to achieve it
2. Type-Safe Configuration: Use Kotlin DSL for type safety and IDE support
3. Lazy Configuration: Use Providers API to defer configuration until needed
4. Build Cache Friendly: Write tasks that support build caching for faster builds
5. Configuration Cache Compatible: Ensure build scripts work with configuration cache for optimal performance

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Section 1: Project Configuration

This section covers the common scenarios developers encounter when configuring Gradle projects: setting up build scripts, managing dependencies, applying plugins, and structuring multi-module projects.

Build Script Basics

build.gradle.kts Structure

Organize your build script in a consistent, readable order:

// 1. Plugin declarations (always first)
plugins {
    java
    application
    id("com.github.johnrengelman.shadow") version "8.1.1"
}

// 2. Project properties and versioning
group = "com.example"
version = "1.0.0"

// 3. Repositories
repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

// 4. Dependencies
dependencies {
    implementation("com.google.guava:guava:33.0.0-jre")
    testImplementation("org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter:5.10.2")
}

// 5. Java/Kotlin configuration
java {
    toolchain {
        languageVersion = JavaLanguageVersion.of(21)
    }
}

// 6. Task configuration
tasks {
    test {
        useJUnitPlatform()
    }

    jar {
        manifest {
            attributes("Main-Class" to "com.example.Main")
        }
    }
}

settings.gradle.kts Basics

// Root project name
rootProject.name = "my-project"

// Enable Gradle version catalogs (Gradle 9+)
enableFeaturePreview("TYPESAFE_PROJECT_ACCESSORS")

// Include subprojects
include("app")
include("lib")
include("common")

// Optional: Customize subproject location
project(":app").projectDir = file("applications/app")